This page provides useful information about US market’s history. Find out how different asset classes performed during the last ninety years, both in nominal and real terms. The table below summarizes the performance over different time periods of stocks, corporate bonds and money market instruments. Returns are expressed in nominal terms.

	Arithmetic Average Historical Return (Nominal)
	S&P 500	Baa Corporate Bond	US T.Bond	3-month T.Bill
1928-2019	11.57%	7.22%	5.15%	3.40%
1970-2019	11.89%	9.46%	7.39%	4.64%
2010-2019	14.02%	7.23%	4.35%	0.52%

	Geometric Average Historical Return (Nominal)
	S&P 500	Baa Corporate Bond	US T.Bond	3-month T.Bill
1928-2019	9.71%	6.96%	4.88%	3.35%
1970-2019	10.51%	9.18%	6.99%	4.58%
2010-2019	13.44%	7.06%	4.13%	0.51%

The graph below is interactive. Zoom-in to analyze the period of interest. Select the time series you want to be displayed. Returns are expressed in nominal terms.

Over such a long time period you might want to account for inflation. Below you will find a table and graph similar to the previous ones. This time returns are expressed in real terms.

	Arithmetic Average Historical Return (Real)
	Inflation	S&P 500	Baa Corporate Bond	US T.Bond	3-month T.Bill
1928-2019	3.04%	8.41%	4.22%	2.17%	0.43%
1970-2019	4.07%	6.88%	4.97%	2.99%	0.65%
2010-2019	1.56%	11.80%	6.41%	0.67%	-1.15%

	Geometric Average Historical Return (Real)
	Inflation	S&P 500	Baa Corporate Bond	US T.Bond	3-month T.Bill
1928-2019	2.97%%	6.54%	3.87%	1.85%	0.37%
1970-2019	3.97%	6.30%	5.01%	2.91%	0.59%
2010-2019	1.82%	11.42%	5.15%	2.27%	-1.28%

"Compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t, pays it." (Einstein)

If you ever wondered why Albert Einstein would have said such a thing, check out how much 100$ invested in 1928 will worth today. Moreover, the chart below allows you to compare the investment in stocks with less risky asset class.

Where does all the data come from? Check our source